Another New Years day has come, and for most people in the world January 1st is the day it starts. (Although that would be a different matter entirely if not for Pope Gregory.) But we at The Crazy were curious as to what other calendars said about the New Year. We were surprised to learn that most of the world does follow the Gregorian Calendar which changed the then popular Julian Calendar (Started in -45 by Julius Caesar)
Although Julius Caesars astronomer Sosigenes adjusted for the extra time in the calendar year by adding leap years. (It seems those pesky lunar cycles refuse to obey the rules and follow our idea of what a year should be.) The March 21st Easter Celebration was drifting away from it's association with the Jewish celebration of Passover, (March 21st was the date for Easter decided by the council of Nicea in 325, you remember, the one where the Divinity of Christ was fully recognized by the Church, and Jews were declared to be "children of the Devil.") Pope Gregory decided that something must be done and slashed ten days from the calendar in 1582. (The days removed were October 5th through October 14th.) Pope Gregory also decided that on years divisible by 400 we would dispense with leap years. Which effectively fixed the 10 day error that would occur every 1500 years or so. (Ok not entirely, now the Gregorian calendar gains a day every 3300 years.) Every year the calendar gains 26 seconds. So in the long run, we're all getting older more rapidly! (Alas, but no wiser, according to what we assimilate from the media.) Damn!
Well, that's all for now folks. Heri za Mwaka Mpya! (Happy New Year in Swahili)
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